MOTD2
BBC Sport

And that my friends concludes FA Cup semi-final weekend. What a weekend. Plenty of goals, tense from start to finish, fine margins, it didn't disappoint.

Later today the BBC Sport website will run a live European football text for you to devour but for now, thank you for joining us and for all your tweets.

Tune into Match of the Day 2 at 22:30 BST on BBC One, and from 23:20 for viewers in Scotland.

Plus tonight there'll also be FA Cup highlights on from 23:20 on BBC One and from 00:10 in Scotland.

Farewell.

Image source, Jack Grealish/Twitter

Tim Sherwood's given these lads the day off training tomorrow by the looks of it - jubilant scenes, external in the Aston Villa dressing room.

More from Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood: "I watched the semi-final yesterday and saw how calm Arsene Wenger was. I was just so delighted I had to spill out the emotions. We will be the underdogs, and the pressure is on Arsenal as they are the holders. But for now we have to put that on the backburner."

What lines will you hear over and over again in the run up to the FA Cup final?

- Tim Sherwood, a former Tottenham player and manager, will guide Villa into face Spurs' north-London rivals. What reception will he get? What gold will he deliver in news conferences?

- Arsenal can become the FA Cup's most decorated club if they record a 12th success to move one ahead of Manchester United.

- Aston Villa can win their first FA Cup since 1958 and move onto eight wins in the tournament in all.

And so to the final, there are a lot of sleeps to count down from so be patient Villa fans.

Then again, you may not be in a mad rush...

Image source, Getty Images

There is a lot of love on Twitter for Fabian Delph, BBC pundit Jermaine Jenas saying "that is how you drive your team to an FA cup final."

A look at the numbers explains why. He led the way in terms of touches of the ball for his side with 76 and completed 94% of his passes.

Image source, Opta

More from Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood: "It'll be a great occasion for the football club but nothing is won yet. Not many gave us a chance today but but we believed it and when we stepped onto the pitch we realised the fans believed it too. I thought we dominated the football after Christian Benteke's goal and caused Liverpool a lot of problems.

"We looked at Liverpool and thought we could cause problems with two number 10s. Jack Grealish and Charles N'Zogbia played in the pockets and were hard to pick up. We knew our midfield three would have energy to cope and I thought the game plan worked perfectly today."

On midfielder Grealish: "The bigger the stage the better he plays and that's a sign of real talent. He's a player I looked at before I came to the club, and if you give him instructions he sticks to the plan. He's very durable, he's a big guy - he takes more even kicks in training than on the pitch. But he's only a kid and he's still learning."

BBC Radio 5 live reporter Juliette Ferrington is in the tunnel at Wembley and says Brendan Rodgers has visited the Aston Villa dressing room to congratulate the finalists. You can listen to reaction from her as well as interviews with the key protagonists now.

OptaJoe tweets:, external "12 - Liverpool have won 12 of 31 games (39%) when Steven Gerrard has started this season, compared to 13 of 21 (62%) when he hasn't."

Gerrard by his own standards lacked influence today, but another of the club's recent headline makers Raheem Sterling was perhaps the most disappointing of those in yellow.

He touched the ball just 34 times and played only 18 passes in the entire 90 minutes.

And some former Villa stars are also going big on social media:

Thomas Hitzlsperger tweets:, external Proud of this Aston Villa team! Can't wait to watch you lift the FA Cup trophy!

Steve Froggatt tweets:, external Villa gave an outstanding, team display, Delph and Grealish individually superb. Great day for the club and the fans.

Prime Minister David Cameron has found time in these busy political times to tweet his congratulations, external for the club he supports.

Image source, David Cameron Twitter

BBC Sport this week asked former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher if no trophy puts Brendan Rodgers under pressure: "I don't think so. Especially what the manager did last season in almost leading them to the league title, playing the best football Liverpool have played since the late 1980s.

"This season has been a struggle, was a struggle early on, but they have turned it around and the manager deserves a lot of credit for that - changing the system, no one saw that coming.

"When you talk about a great job - you have to win trophies. He has done a very good job up until now."

Jermaine Jenas
Former England midfielder on BBC Radio 5 live

"A lot of Liverpool fans seem unsure as to whether they want Brendan Rodgers to stay as manager. As far as I'm concerned I think he's a fantastic manager and has done a good job. It's just that the loss of Luis Suarez has been too much for them to handle."

Image source, AFP

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers: "We were very disappointing - Villa were much better than us. We were nervous for some reason, maybe when you want to win something so much perhaps it plays on your mind.

"For a team with a lot of energy we has no energy today. It is disappointing that in another big game we didn't show that courage. Villa did, they had good energy and are playing with a bit more freedom."

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers: "Dealing with the occasion is something we need to improve at. There have been other big games where we have dealt with that very well, but there are others where we haven't.

"We need to focus on the performances and if we do that then normally get the victories. But today it wasn't at the right level.

"Now we have to strive for top-four Premier League finish - it is an obligation of this wonderful club to fight until the finish."

Image source, Reuters

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers believes Mario Balotelli should not have been flagged offside before he stuck the ball in the Villa net after 87 minutes.

"It was a very poor decision," moans the Northern Irishman. "The official is looking across the line and should see the full-back playing Mario at least a yard onside. You need that to go for you.

"Steven Gerrard had a header cleared off the line, but apart from that we were too passive."

Tom: Well done Villa, definitely deserve to go through. Surely Liverpool should be seriously considering going for Klopp in the summer? No Champions League or silverware and a manager's inexperience and naivety rubbing off in the big games.

Jimmy, Plymouth: Liverpool fan here who is in no doubt about which team deserves to be in the final, however, I do believe that we should be in extra time now, and that Mario's disallowed goal is kind of a big deal.

Charlie Varley: Liverpool needed a little bit of luck today. Arsenal got it yesterday. But we got the opposite with that Balotelli offside call.

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More from Aston Villa boss Tim Sherwood on BT Sport: "It's going all right at the moment! I'm delighted with that win. We were underdogs but we believed we could win it.

"We outplayed Liverpool to be honest. We created a lot of chances and they resorted to lumping the ball forward.

"The final will be a great occasion. You can't win this cup with an easy route. If you win it you have to beat the best and Arsenal are right up there."

Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood on Jack Grealish. He told BT Sport: "He could be right up there amongst the best of them. The ball is a friend of his.

"He's Aston Villa through and through. He lives a couple of miles away from the ground. He just wants to play for Aston Villa and I want to give him the platform to do that because he has earned the right."

One of Aston Villa's stand-out players of the day Jack Grealish tweets:, external "Best feeling off my life!! So happy for all the fans!! What a game, can't even express how much this means to me."

Image source, Jack Grealish Twitter